The Imperial City (also known as Cyrodiil City) is the capital of Cyrodiil and the whole of the Empire. The circular city is located on City Isle, an island in Lake Rumare in the Nibenay Valley at the center of the Imperial province. At the middle is the Green Emperor Way district, containing the Imperial Palace and its White-Gold Tower. Surrounding it are six districts, starting in the northeast and going clockwise:

Market District (or Memorial District)

Arena District

Arboretum

Temple District

Talos Plaza District (or Nobles District)

Elven Gardens District

Also on the island is the Arcane University, the Imperial Prison and the Waterfront, which is the harbor of the Imperial City. A single bridge connects the island to the mainland near Weye. Roads lead from the capital in all directions.

The city has an extensive underground. The sewers connect up with the crumbling substructures, which in turn break into the many natural caverns on the island. The White-Gold Tower in particular has a vast basement system, which links into an Ayleid ruin known as the Hall of Epochs. This underground system is a haven for those who don't wish to be found. Bandits, goblins and vampires dwell in the sewers, and occasionally endanger the above-ground inhabitants.[1] The basements beneath the Imperial Palace were used as a refuge for Jagar Tharn and his servants. Many secret passages, such as the Old Way, are used by the Blades to move around the city, but using them poses serious risks. Emperor Uriel Septim VII was assassinated by the Mythic Dawn in one of these passages, below the Prison District.

Some time in the early Fourth Era, when the Third Empire had dissolved and all Tamriel was in chaos, Titus Mede captured the city with a mere 1000 men and crowned himself the first Emperor of a new dynasty.[2]

In 4E 174, in the height of the Great War between the Aldmeri Dominion and the Empire, Thalmor troops burned the city in the infamous Sacking of the Imperial City. The Imperial Palace was burned, the White-Gold Tower was looted, and all manners of atrocities were carried out on the innocent populace by the vengeful Thalmor army.